Pretoria - The African Transformation Movement will abide by the outcome of the 2019 general elections and pledged its continued support of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to improve operational systems for subsequent elections, the party said on Saturday.
The ATM had been prominent in a group of 27 political parties objecting to 23 separate "irregularities potentially compromising the IEC’s execution of its mandate to manage and deliver a free and fair election", the party said in a statement on Saturday evening.
The ATM was party to a formal letter to the IEC demanding an independent audit of the elections results. A presentation by the statistician general earlier on Saturday adequately satisfied the ATM that the need for an independent audit had been "tolerably addressed".
"The ATM is satisfied that the IEC has acted in good faith and professionally in answer to its institutional demands met continuously since its inception. The current statistical probe indicates a variance of around 1.3 percent, which, although not material, is also not acceptable.
"Therefore the ATM will abide by the outcome and pledge continued support of the IEC in order to improve operational systems for the 2021 elections and all future elections. The ATM is committed to build a better South Africa and a better, sustainably improving IEC is a critical building block."
The ATM respected the will of the people of South Africa who spoke loudly and clearly on May 8, and continued to put the interests of the people of South Africa above all else.
"It is not fair to hold the country to ransom and the ATM supports the IEC to proceed with its declaration of the final elections results today [Saturday]. The ATM takes full responsibility for the dissonance between its returns and expectations.
"Notwithstanding that our campaign started rather late in the public domain, we will go back and improve our strategies, value proposition, and messaging. The ATM is ready to accept the declaration of the result and in anticipation of this formality we congratulate the ANC on its victory. We also wish to thank the IEC for delivering a credible election outcome under very trying circumstances," the ATM said.
The ATM garnered 76,830 votes, or 0.44 percent, in the election.